The Evolution Series Episode 1

Episode 1 of Part 1 presents a look into the background & upbringing of the father of the Theory of Evolution, Charles Darwin, and his scholastic journey.

The Evolution Series is a scientific series made up of two parts. Part 1 discusses the Theory’s Proponents & theoretical evidences, while Part 2 discusses the Theory’s objections & criticism.

Prepared & presented by Dr. Adnan Ibrahim

English subtitles provided by The Arabic-English translation team with the help of Dr. Adnan Ibrahim’s website administrators.

Intro

I seek refuge in God Hearing, the Knowing from the accursed Satan, and I start in the name of Allah the Merciful, praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds and peace & blessings be upon His messenger, prophet Mohammed the son of Abdullah the faithful prophet, his good family and his auspicious companion.

“Exalted are You; we have no knowledge except what You have taught us. Indeed, it is You who is the Knowing, the Wise” Al-Baqara, 32. Our Lord teach us what benefits us and serve us with what You taught us and fill us with knowledge; and so my brothers and sisters: I greet you all with the greeting of Islam; may Peace and mercy of God be upon you.

On the 19th of April 1882 the body of Charles Darwin -the world’s famous naturalist– was carried to his final resting place, though not at his home in Down “famously known as Down House“, but at the cemetery and graveyard of the greats of Britain; kings of England and its esteemed scholars and nobles – in Westminster Abby – as the bureau of scientists insisted that the great scientist and researcher be buried in this place alongside the kings, nobles, and great scientists before him, Sir Isaac Newton is also buried in the same cemetery.

Ten of the top scientists of the time helped carry his coffin; two royalties helped in as well. Of those ten were; the famous naturalist who shared the discovery of the law of Natural Selection with Charles Darwin – Alfred Russel Wallace, the famous scientist of Morphology, Darwin’s student and good friend – Thomas Henry Huxley; and the most famous botanist – Sir Joseph D. Hooker, among others.

In his eulogy, Thomas Henry Huxley said: “The world has become a poorer place now that Charles Darwin passed away“.

So who is this Charles Darwin who has been highly revered & respected?

Noam Chomsky – the famous contemporary linguist – once writes: “The progress of any nation is measured by its

understanding of the theory of evolution“. The well-known linguist and universal fighter for the rights of the vulnerable and human in general, sees that the progress of any nation should be measured by how far it understands the Theory of Evolution. Though the theory’s status is high and well-respected among scientists and intellectuals has one of the strangest aspects to it, what Noble-prize winning French-biologist Jacques Monod noted in the 1960’s -along with two other countrymen- “What’s strange about this theory is that everyone believes that he/she understands it, and despite its simplicity and beauty, it is one of the most misunderstood theories that is deliberately distorted!“.

This of course is not restricted to one nation without the other; Today in the United Kingdom there are great theologians, scientists, literati and intellectuals whom we’re not sure if they intentionally offend the theory or if they truly misunderstand it, yet discuss it using the words of those who did not understand the simplest of its principles.

It’s not uncommon to hear a great theologian, or even a scientist -who could even be a biologist- say “apes cannot be the origin of the human kind“, but really who said that?! Neither Darwin nor any of the theory’s advocates made such a claim. Such a statement only comes from someone who doesn’t know anything about the theory, yet the phrase “we’re not apes” is constantly repeated!

Darwin published his Book -which is the book of his life- “The Origin of Species,” the book that lavished him with all this

glory in 1859. A year later -around 1860– the famous debate which embroiled the theory’s most loyal advocate, the relatively-young Morphologist (compared to Darwin) –Thomas Henry Huxley– and the bishop of Oxford –Samuel Wilberforce-. You can find the famous debate online by searching for (1860 oxford evolution debate) on Google. The bishop of Oxford asked sneeringly  “was it through your grandfather or grandmother that you claimed descending from apes?“. It is very clear that this cynical question reflects total lack of awareness to the theory. Huxley doesn’t think that his ancestors -or the ancestors of human for that matter- were apes, and Darwin never said that, nor did any evolutionist ever. Just a vaunting ignorance.

Yet the smart and intelligent Huxley (as Darwin always labeled him; one of the most brilliant of men) intuitively and smashingly replied, shocking his opponent, then made him the laughing stock of the audience, followed by ending his response with saying “…anyway, I prefer to have my grandparents as apes than be like this bishop who speaks ignorance, and intentionally misleads the people by not stating the facts“, and the fool of a bishop just couldn’t reply back, as he was misleading people away from the truth, at least the one presented by its owners.

The Theory of Evolution -my dear brothers & sisters- is not just a theory. Of course you’ll hear a lot and this has been said over the decades to this day “It is only a theory, just a theory!“, misleading us in the sense that it doesn’t elevate from being just a hypothesis that’s not prove in any way! That’s totally deceptive, such words only stem from those who didn’t understand the theory, or even differentiate between a hypothesis, a theory and facts. We will come across this in the first episodes of this series presenting the Proponents of the Theory, though today we’ll present the historical background of the theory’s founder.

Who is Charles Darwin?

This is a person who -when you hear the part or parts which relate to his life- those sincere among us will only be filled with admiration for his personality, the humanity of the man, his modesty, his scientific approach; such an impressive personality. Indeed he lived and died as an endearing and lovable character. Ever one who connected with him adored him for his noble & generous persona. But we’re also interested in the intellectual and scientific sides of this great man.

I’d like to say -brothers & sisters- that this theory was not just a “theory“, even in the positive sense of a “theory“, be it a mold or frame, or even a hypothesis that succeeds in explaining a large number of facts in a single system. This is one of the meanings of a “theory“. A “theory” does not just mean a proof-free hypothesis -I promise that we’ll come back to this- because it went beyond being a “theory” to being a scientific revolution. A Revolution! The world after Darwin is not the same world before Darwin, that’s why whenever Darwin is mentioned, it reminds us of very elite group of people such as: Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein. The common factor between all of them is that these great men changed our perception of the world. How we see the world today, the wider world, the cosmos, the universe, our planet and life on it, the diversities and path.

These men -who are scarcely matched- are the ones who made the greatest contribution in changing our perspective & perception of our world, our existence, our lives: Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein and Charles Darwin.

Therefore, no wonder those familiar with the worlds of intellect, culture & science to constantly collide with the terms “Darwin” & “Evolution” in almost all fields of life, constantly, in humanitarian as well as biological sciences. Many fields of science originated while fully depending on the interpretation of the principle of Evolution; Evolutionary psychology is surely not the easiest among those fields.

So, it is a revolution. The Darwinian revolution, or the Evolution revolution.

Just like the Copernican revolution; a revolution that eliminated the old pattern of understanding the world for over 1,000 years, the one derived from the Geocentric model, which is a dead model. Followed by the Heliocentric model –which isn’t entirely accurate, and has constantly been modified– but still remains a revolution. The revolution of the great Pole Nicolaus Copernicus. Nearly the most mentioned revolution after the Copernican one is Darwin’s. As it is a true revolution. And so; behooves us –not just as Muslims but– as human beings, as intellectuals -and there’s no need for us to involve religion & Islam in everything– to understand this theory at least in a way that banishes the signs of misunderstanding it from our foreheads. It not necessarily sets us with the elite of specialists who know the bits & depths of the theory, such a thing will take a long time and dedicated professionalism, but just to banish the blindness we currently have regarding the theory. We don’t want to be like that bishop who made a fool of himself, even though such examples are present aplenty in our world, in every country and every culture, those who keep saying “It’s just a theory” & “we’re not apes. Our ancestors were not apes“. These poor ones are fools for not learning a thing or two for over 150 years. The world has evolved greatly, it now has possibilities & capabilities that allow us to beautifully understand the theory in a wonderful and consistent manner, yet they still refuse to do so stopping at a point we passed over 150 years ago.

We need to banish the signs of ignorance hanging over our heads to this theory, whether we agree or disagree with it, although we better be modest enough, to agree or disagree is only the right of the specialist who studied all this fully. “And do not pursue that of which you have no knowledge. Indeed, the hearing, the sight and the heart – about all those [one] will be questioned” Al-Israa, 36.

You have the right to say that only if you have a stone-hard evidence that can be respected by a competent scientist, it must not be Your evidence, could be the evidence of other specialized scientists that you fully understood, are welling to debate with. That we can accept. But to come out with a stance in the name of being an intellectual or an educated person, then be fully aware that your stance is worthless, no one will care for it. Nowadays of course we live in a day of great communication where a session like this can’t be a whisper between us. This whispering in a matter of hours from releasing to the public will become heard by millions of people worldwide, and whoever wants to hear it will hear it, whether they share our ideas, beliefs & religion or not. Right?

It’s everyone’s right to state their opinion on what we say here. Of course our opinions, minds & understandings will all be baldly tested as we know one another sharing the same faith or homeland. These are plain, sharp, and strict scientific discussion nonetheless.

So we have to be fully awake & aware, and also tough when we are exposed to these issues of concern to the scientific community around the world, not just of interest to a nation without another. And to arm ourselves with this strictly scientific seriousness my brothers and sisters. Great!

We start as promised in this episode in giving a not-so-detailed glimpse, whoever is looking for full details can refer back to the

various references, where books written about the life of Charles Darwin and his scientific & intellectual evolution, as well as his religious understanding are countless, in hundreds, some of course are better than others, though Darwin wrote an autobiography himself to which his son Francis Darwin added a lot to it in a published 1,000+ page, 3-part book that you may find an old full copy of it online at www.archive.org, searching for “The Life and Letters of Charles Darwin“, edited by Francis Darwin.

So for those willing to go further, they could refer back to many books such as “Charles Darwin” for the famous evolutionist philosopher – Michael Ruse, whose one of many great minds. Part of a very famous series here in the West, that translates the great scientific, philosophical & intellectual mentalities. This book presents the theory in a strong, precise & philosophical scientific manner.

Now we come to learn about Charles Darwin as he introduced himself, and as his children introduced him:

Charles Darwin was born on the 12^th of February 1809 in Shrewsbury, England to a Christian scientific family. Often we hear ignorantly “Darwin was a Jew, a Zionist, Protocols of the Elders of Zion“. Complete nonsense and very ridiculous. All wrong. He’s a Christian man from a Christian family of science, his father was Dr. Robert Darwin, and his grandfather was Erasmus Darwin. His grandfather was a physician, philosopher, a zoologist and a poet, talented in both science & literature. His father was also a physician, earned his MD from the Leiden University in Netherlands and practiced medicine since he turned 21 for the next sixty years, nearly around the time of his death in 1848.

Charles often showed pride of his father in many parts of his memoires, and it was his habit to begin many sentences by saying “My father, who I know, or at the limits of my knowledge is the wisest man I ever knew“. He expresses great admiration to his father, and it seems his father was undoubtedly an impressive character, as per the words of his son Charles, Robert was a charitable person, very compassionate with people. Charles will grow to inherit the same traits, as he –Charles– was very sensitive, compassionate and sympathetic with human and animals alike. This of course contradicts all the way with the common perception that Darwinism is a theory that makes a man become cruel and a criminal, and that the likes of Hitler, Mussolini, & Nietzsche were all influenced by it. This is partially true, but that has nothing to do with Darwin himself, he’s innocent from all the philosophical embeddings, and ideological & political employments of his theory. He is not guilty of any of this, and only those who embedded such wrongdoings to the theory are to blame. The man was very charitable & compassionate towards all beings, he saw grandeur, majesty & creativity in it all. He lived and died with this belief.

His father sympathized greatly with people, Charles explains. “My father was not only a compassionate man for sympathizing with the doomed in their calamities, for the heartbroken with their heartache, but also in terms of his will and work on spreading joy to all those around him“. His sympathy wasn’t directed only towards those affected by a catastrophe to try and ease their pain & suffering, but also he’d try to spread joy & happiness towards all who connect with him, loving and caring. That was Dr. Robert Darwin.

“It never happened that my father made a mistake in assessing a man to take as a friend but only once, and he discovered soon enough“, Charles explaining the exceptional ability his father had in knowing people. Some sort of ability or intuition, an eye for people. He’d know who’s honest, who’s good, who’s cunning, who’s a crook, who’s a sly, who’s pushy.. he knew. This shows that he was a rational man, surely intelligent.

In terms of figure, Charles explains that his father was tall. “The largest man I’ve ever seen“. He was 6’2” feet tall, which is 185 cm. “The largest man I’ve ever seen, very obese or fat. Later in his life, he couldn’t walk, always on a wheel chair“. That was Charles Darwin’s father. Though, he wasn’t as scientific in his approach in the same sense as his son Charles where he’d generalize, as science is all about generalization. Science starts with a hypothesis and eventually ends with a law that generalizes itself.

“My father never tended to generalize, I don’t remember him generalizing but for one single time” Charles continues. And

what a generalization it turned out to be, one we should all learn from. “He changes his tone, laid the basis for what was not his usual way and said (Beware, my son, of befriending a man you don’t feel compelled to respect, pushed to respect)“, and what an advice this is! Any person you don’t feel the urge to respect him inside of you, maybe because you know that he lies, or has a habit of gossiping, or not a virtuous person -unchaste maybe- talks too much, aggressive in nature, not bashful and you know all that but he /she’s close to you maybe, have helped you a couple of times, could be a relative; some sort of cousin, or class mate, and he/she’s a nice person that you like one or two aspects about yet you don’t respect him; beware never to have such a person as a friend. A great advice indeed. A word only spoken from a very wise man, cause the person who you don’t respect would only bring shame to you in the end. He will let you down and disappoint you simply because he/she’s not a respected person. Anyways. Charles continues “That’s possibly the only generalization I’ve inherited from my father“. “He also had a terrific memory, especially when it comes to numbers, dates, dates of birth, marriages, deaths. To the people of Shrewsbury, he knew almost everyone’s dates, when were they born, married or if they died!“. Charles inherited such a trait, but with a blur. “I, too, have a great memory, although vague at times. I’d remember a few ones, and totally forget other near events” Charles said. “Certain dates I can only retain for a day or two. Become completely oblivious to it very soon“.

But he may remember other events that have a trend, unclear so far. Though, What kind of trends? “Uncertain, vague, yet a huge memory!“. In the end of course it is hereditary, he will inherit traits from parents and grandparents.

Anyways, Darwin’s dialogue regarding his father is long. It is worth noting that his father took a stance against the consumption of alcohol all his life, he abstained from drinking, and forbade his children from it as well, mercilessly! “I never saw my father sipping a drop of alcohol all his life“. This proves that he was sane man, even though it is allowed in his faith, and people drink it, but he never did. And so followed Charles as well, who never drank and forbade himself from it.

His father’s traits also include hemophobia (the fear of blood) -may be cause he was perhaps overly sensitive, very compassionate and affectionate towards people-. He’d be terrified of the sight of blood, even though he was a practitioner himself, a Leiden University graduate as we mentioned earlier. He’d never entertain the idea of doing a surgery, can’t allow it to cross his mind! To cut open a human being?! To hurt someone?! He couldn’t, he’d be sick & terrified. “And he passed that trait to me” Charles said. Darwin failed to become a physician -as we’ll explain soon- because he feared doing surgeries and hated the sight of blood, “I could just faint if I saw a man bleeding. Such a terrifying scene” he said “and I got this from my father“.

Enough about Darwin’s father. His grandfather –Erasmus Darwin-, the physician, philosopher, poet, zoologist, and the man famous for his book “Zoonomia – or the Laws of Organic Life” (1796) that studies animals. Charles admitted to reading the book twice during his tender years and admired it. The book incorporated early ideas relating to the theory of evolution, a theory that wasn’t entirely Darwin’s really, the ancient idea was once discussed among the Greeks and Muslim philosophers at one time, such as the Brethren of Purity. They have written a few letters -that I read- where they remarkably discuss the evolution of species and its transformation in a tone closer to modern-day evolutionists. How did they reach such a conclusion?! Very strange!

Ibn Khaldun in his book “Al Muqaddimah” or “The Prolegomena” speaks about the transformation of species in an

astonishing way, where he says “The last stage of soil, is the first stage for plants. The last stage of plants, is the first stage for animals. The last stage of animals, is the first stage for mankind“. Basically; that the last stage of animals, such as apes (and he probably meant Hominidae, such as Gorillas, Chimpanzees & Orangutans) is followed straight after by the human kind. Oddly, he speaks with scientific facts!

Also Al-Jahiz. The great Mu’tazili scholar mentioned animals and the transformation and evolution of species in some way.

Therefore, Darwin wasn’t the first to knock on the Evolution’s door. Here in the West, many have mentioned it before Darwin, we all heard of the French Jean-Baptiste De Lamarck who founded a very famous theory on the evolution of species. Of course it differs to Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution in essence & scientific mechanisms and to put it short; it was the theory of Use and Disuse. It stated that “If an organ is used by an Animal under pressing conditions that forces it to be overly used; this organ will grew, develop, and specialize. And if this organ is neglected; it will atrophy and perhaps disappear“. That was Lamarck’s theory.

Today of course this theory is not highly esteemed, only mentioned when compared to Darwin’s theory, and the mechanism of Natural Selection among other rivaling mechanisms, which we’ll explain in due course.

In 1842, a book discussing the remains of natural history was published in the name “Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation” (1844). The book sent shock waves all over, also discussing the evolution of species and the animalistic origins found in the humankind, fought viciously by academics from institutions such as Cambridge in the UK. It was unknown who wrote the book, and people only found that it was published by a Scotsman in the name of Robert Chambers, where he said “I’m just a publisher. The author wants to remain anonymous“, only then to reappear that the publisher is himself the author. The book overall -as critics call it- is “Not scientific yet includes a few insights. Has some remarkable scientific ideas & insights with a daring audacity, yet was viciously attacked from both the religious & scientific establishments alike“. The most well-known people to –viciously– attack the book was the famous English Geologist Adam Sedgwick, whom Darwin will later interact with and learn from.

So, the idea of evolution & transformation of species was already available and discussed in the book market. We had Lamarck, Erasmus Darwin & Chambers, many already discussed the idea. We’ll see what did Charles Darwin add to it! Why has Darwin’s name particularly become so attached to it, almost iconic to this theory, iconic to the evolutionary ideology in general?! We’ll see -God willing- everything in due time.

So; Darwin was born to this family of science, we mentioned his father, and grandfather. His grandfather was “a physician himself too, and just like Robert he was massive in size. He was a man with a tendency to volunteer in charitable acts“, seems like this runs in the whole family! He was a good man of the people, sympathizing with them, and was distinct from his grandchild Charles in that he had a trend for literature that made a poet out of him, unlike Charles who in his late 20-30 years of his life saw a “big decline in his tendencies towards art and literature“!

His grandfather was a poet and a philosopher, a knowledgeable person like his grandchild and good in nature, but he didn’t have Charles’ traits such as simplicity & modesty as most historians wrote. Charles was unpretentious, simple in his words, personality, books & writing style. Charles’ books can be read by ordinary people and be easily understood. Extremely simple, didn’t like to be pretentious, bloating or artificial, just as natural as they come. His grandfather wasn’t as such as historians state, a complete opposite when it came to this trait in particular.

He never mentioned his mother as much, only a few things related to her coffin, why? Because she died when Charles was very young at the time. He was 8 years old when she passed away to God’s mercy, which is why he barely mentioned her in his writings. That’s all we know about his mother.

As for siblings; he was the 5th of 6 children, 4 daughters and 2 sons. The 2 boys were Erasmus Alvey Darwin the eldest, and Charles the youngest. His brother was also a man associated with science, art and literature as Charles says about him. “He was knowledgeable in literature, poetry, art, novels, plays, other various sciences such as botany & zoology.. a man of high cultural standards in literary, artistic, aesthetic and also scientific backgrounds. A good man, he too studied and graduated as a physician“. Charles states. however, from Charles’ words, it seems like Erasmus wasn’t a practitioner, he didn’t practice medicine. What’s funnier is that Charles himself didn’t like the profession of physicians! His father who practiced for nearly 60 years -as we mentioned earlier- didn’t even like the field. “My father hated the profession of medicine, although he was pushed to practice to earn a living, and remained a practitioner, despite his dislike for the sight of blood and for doing surgeries“. This here confirms that his father he didn’t love his profession instinctively, despite him being skillful in the field. He was a doctor known for his skills, but he didn’t like it! His elder son Erasmus -as we mentioned earlier- studied and graduated as a physician, but as Charles’ explains “he never practiced“. Internal conflicts if you may, a certain recognizable mood switch that prompted all this. He too was a good man, close to his brother Charles as it seems, where he accompanied him in his scholastic journey, in Cambridge, and in the early stages of the famous HMS Beagle voyage, the voyage that shaped the future of science –Biology in particular- and all relating to Natural History and Geology. We’ll discuss the HMS Beagle voyage later in this series.

That’s his brother; Erasmus A. Darwin. He lived a single man, never married. “I wasn’t ready to carry the burdens of marriage. Marriage has many burdens to look after” Charles explained. The same applies to Charles Darwin, he took sometime –we don’t know exactly how long– to study the difference between celibacy and marriage, the pros and cons of each. “I’ll marry for this and that so reason.. I’ll remain a bachelor for this and that so reason“. He wrote his findings and asked his brother for opinions, to which he suggested he better get married. “I’d rather live a married life than live and work and work and work like a bee, only to then die so lonely. I don’t want to die this way, I want a partner in life“.

His wife actually gave him great moral support throughout his life, though she was in shock with his evolutionary ideas and his denial of the divine design in nature, she was in pain and shock of all this. “It is terrifying to me to imagine, just to imagine, that you won’t be my partner in the eternal afterlife. This, to me, is a source of great horror” she said. Cause in this way, he’s a disbeliever to her. If you don’t believe that God designed and created, then you’re a disbeliever. You have to believe in the genesis story as mentioned in the Bible!

Anyways -as we said earlier- his older brother Erasmus lived and died a single man. Charles refers to him in his memoirs as good old Ras! (Ras is short for Erasmus) “My good old Ras, my poor Ras” was a virtuous and good man, who always supported Charles.

Now we come to the academic track of the great scientist Charles Darwin.

Some people might expect this man to be born a genius. To the contrary of this belief, his visible scholastic achievements during school and college indicate that he’ll be a failure, or as his father said “He’ll bring shame to himself and his family“! He wasn’t successful at all, his grades hovering around the middle. He never possessed the will to achieve academically, to study all night, to act as his mentors and teachers may advise, or to stick to an academic plan. He was barely ever interested in any of those, instead he used to have a hobby – a hobby of collecting plant & animal specimens; insects, mice and the like. He was also interested in pets, and he loved and cared for dogs way more than he did for cats. As the first chapter of his book “On the Origins of Species” included a full-on, detailed explanation on the types, taming & breeding of dogs in an amazing way. This all of course benefited and inspired him in his theory of evolution and transforming.

Anyways, during the spring of the year when his mother died, maybe in a short period before her death, his father decided to enroll him in a day school in Shrewsbury, to which he attended in for a full year. The end result was very poor. Why? As I told you earlier; he didn’t care or have his mind set on the scholastic curriculum and books, instead on collecting specimens, as humanely as possible.

“I learned from my sister to be as affectionate and tender while doing so. When I used to collect birds’ eggs, I used to take only one egg from each nest” Charles said. He used to take only one egg so not to hurt the mother with all her eggs. “I once bragged and took two. But generally I take only one“. That’s mercy. A man full of mercy and tenderness. And by the way –Praise be to God– that’s one of the reasons that inspired him his theory of evolution, through natural selection, eclecticism or election. Why so?

Because he was affected by this struggle, the tusk & claw fight in nature, the cruel struggle to survive. He was very affected by all this, and questioned if God would do all this, as God is all merciful, all affectionate according to him.

Attention: please note that we’ll only restrict ourselves to the Proponents of the theory as promised. We’ll not express our scientific, belief-related or intellectual stance, we only plan to present the theory as-is without any interpretations. In the 2nd part of the series, we’ll present and discuss all objections –scientific as well as philosophical– we may have in our hands to the theory. So If I ever bring any statement to the series doesn’t mean that I’m fully convinced by it and agree with it 100%. Not at all. I only present the theory as-is, in a neutral & objective way as much as I possibly can.

“When I first learned that we may end a warm’s life by soaking it in salted water instead of using the fishing hook to penetrate it, I started soaking each one before hooking it to fish” Charles added. As these hooks pierce the warm’s body is a painful thing for the warm -at least- “I constantly did that since I learned it, and didn’t disapprove with the negative fishing results. When a warm is alive it lures birds and fish to it. But I don’t want to hurt it by piercing it“. Such a humane act, and he was very young! Would you believe it? He was 9-10 years of age and has such tenderness, mercy and humanity. A wonderful human. As I told you, as you read about Darwin you can’t but like this man. Such a likeable and loving personality.

So anyways, how much is left?

One year, then by the summer of 1818 his father transferred Charles to the larger school of Dr. Butler in the same town, where he’ll spend 7 years there. He remained there in the dormitory as well, even though his family house was only a mile away from this school! At the end of every day and before the school closes its gates (he meant at night of course), he’d rush back to his family “I used to spring fast. And I was a good sprinter” Charles continues. This earned him the chance to strengthen the good relation & communication with his family, cause if he remained in his dorms throughout the 7 years and only visiting at the end of the week or month, that would weaken those relations. He’d return almost every day, being the compassionate man he is, and from that type of family. He used to rush back to them, stay for an hour or two maybe, then return before the gates are closed.

Still, his achievements weren’t good enough. “I feel ashamed whenever I remember the words of my father to me“, his father was a caring man but he got angry this time. “He said to me: (Son, I see you don’t care but for the 3 things; shooting fireworks into the sky, mouse hunting and caring for dogs. I see you’ll be a shame to yourself and to the family)” Charles continued. “Probably my father, the man of great compassion and kindness for us all, was unfair in these words to me. To be a shame. Why? What have I done? I’m only practicing my hobbies. I like these things. Besides, I wasn’t failing any subjects. Just an average grader. I never failed in any subjects really, with an average mindset.” His family was of successful achievers, but he wasn’t, until now. “I assume he said his unfair words in a moment of anger” Charles explains “an anger that got the better of him and pushed him to say those harsh words that I see were unfair“..

We were caught by time, and so far is enough for this episode. In God’s welling, we’ll continue our chat on Charles Darwin’s life in the next episode. Until we meet again, may peace be upon you all, and the mercy of God and His blessings.

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